From handmade jewellery to Asian Games bronze: Harita Bhadra’s remarkable Nagoya night

India’s sprint sensation Harita Bhadra won a bronze medal in the women’s 200m final at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

In June, after she qualified for the Asian Games by winning the women’s 200m at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Harita Bhadra took off her racing bib and held it up to the cameras waiting at the finish line.

It wasn’t an unusual thing to do. Indian athletes often have messages written on the reverse of the paper racing number pinned to their T-shirts, knowing the cameras will be waiting at the finish. For most, it is a thank you to a deity, an expression of gratitude to family or supporters, or perhaps a time they have predicted they will run.

Harita’s message, however, was a marketing pitch.

‘Go follow @_daagina my handmade jewellery brand!’

Harita at the Inter-State Athletics Champinoships in Bhubaneswar when she had a bib telling people to buy her jewellery. | Photo Credit: Jonathan Selvaraj

On Sunday night in Nagoya, the 23-year-old from Mumbai wore some of her own work as she lined up for the women’s 200m final at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium. Pinned to her ears were a pair of wire-art birds she had twisted into shape.

By the time she left the track, she had acquired a far more valuable piece of jewellery.

An Asian Games bronze medal.

Harita had thrown herself at the finish line and edged Japan’s Ido Abigeirufuka by one-hundredth of a second, 23.20 to 23.21.

She didn’t know it at first.

“I was looking at the wrong screen! There’s a screen right opposite the finish line and I thought the results were going to be coming up there. But then they called my name and (compatriot) Unnathi (who was also running in the final) was like, ‘Oh my God, you came third!’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God!’,” Harita says right after the race.

The bronze was not supposed to be hers, at least not according to the start list.

Harita had the fifth-fastest Personal Best of the eight women in the final. In fact her Season’s Best was also slower than three leading contenders for the podium.

But races are run on the track, not on paper.

Harita had got off to a slow start. Her reaction time of 0.187 was the slowest in the field. But as the runners came around the bend, Harita catapulted herself forward. With 60 metres to go, she was nearly level with Ido, a member of Japan’s mixed 4x400m relay team that reached the final at last year’s World Championships. “I knew it was a very close test finish between me and the fourth girl, So I was like, I have to fight till the end and make sure I do a good chest finish and dipped at the finish line,” she says.

Harita blazed to an 11.22-second 100m at the Indian Athletics Series final in New Delhi, just before the Asian Games. | Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT

It was a remarkable performance for an athlete competing in her first international competition for India.

“I’ve not even competed in a junior event for India before,” she said.

Her first experience of competitive running had come when she was 11, at Udayachal School in Vikhroli, Mumbai.

“I started running because of my school. They had a sports day and a PT teacher told me I should take part. I ended up finding I loved running.”

She initially tried the long jump before gradually moving towards the sprints.

The fascination with running never really left her. It eventually took her to Loughborough University in England, where she studied sports science and physical education.

But when the opportunity to qualify for the Asian Games presented itself, Harita decided that studying and athletics could not both have her full attention.

She took a year away from her studies to concentrate entirely on becoming an athlete.

“I wanted to really give myself the best opportunity to qualify for and run at the Asian Games. So last year I took a break from studies to focus on being an athlete,” she says.

It was a calculated gamble: put university on hold, commit completely to training and see how far she could go. At the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Harita qualified for the Games with a 23.14-second run. Then, at the Indian athletics final series earlier this month, she ran an 11.22-second 100m, the second-fastest time by an Indian woman, suggesting that her ceiling in the 200m was even higher.

That confidence was critical as she stood in the Asian Games final in Nagoya alongside some of the best sprinters on the continent.

“I was very proud of myself actually that I am in this lineup because it’s such a strong lineup. When I was at the starting line, I felt that confidence that I belong here. That’s what I was feeling — that I belong over here, I just have to fight till the end,” she would say later.

Her coach had given her a simple instruction before the race: don’t treat it as a challenge, but as an opportunity. “That changed a switch in my mind. This is an opportunity for me to do my best I was only thinking I need to enjoy this race. I don’t have to take any pressure because I’ve done the work, first of all. And second thing was, I’ve been trying my best. I’ve been putting in the work,” she says.

On Sunday, that work translated into the biggest result of her career.

The medal meant even more because of who was watching.

Her family had travelled to Nagoya. “I was very emotional when I saw them because I was so happy. They supported me 100, even more than 100 percent. They believed in me even more when I thought maybe this is too tough and when I didn’t have the right results as a junior. They were just like, as long as you are happy, as long as you are having fun, just go for it,” she says.

Having won a bronze medal, Harita still has a chance for an upgrade. She will also be running the 4x100 m mixed team relay for India at these Games.

She also has no intention of giving up the jewellery business that helped make her memorable even before she became an Asian Games medallist.

“I definitely will,” she said when asked if she would continue making jewellery.

Japan, in fact, has already given her an idea for her next creation. “I will maybe dedicate an earring or something which has inspired me from Japan. Because Japan is so creative as well, so I will try to take some inspiration from that,” she says.

Published on Sep 28, 2026

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